Maharashtra records over 6000 COVID-19 cases in a day; 7715 tests per million population

For the first time, Maharashtra recorded more than 6,000 novel coronavirus cases in a day taking the state's COVID-19 tally to 1,86,626. A total of 6,330 persons tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. There are 77,260 active cases in the state. With 8018 patients being discharged in the day, the total number of recovered rose to 1,01,172. 125 deaths have been reported on Thursday comprising 110 deaths that have occurred in the last 48 hours and 15 from the previous period. Overall, this includes 58 deaths from Mumbai, 23 from Pune, 15 from Aurangabad, 10 from Jalgaon, 5 each from Thane and Satara, two each from Jalna and Akola and one from Navi Mumbai, Nandurbar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Kolhapur, and Buldhana. This has propelled the state's fatality toll to 8,178. 

Currently, the state's COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate, and fatality rate stands at 18.29%, 54.21%, and 4.38% respectively. So far, 10,20,368 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in 64 government labs and 50 private labs. Maharashtra is testing 7715 tests per 10 lakh population as compared to the national average of 6334. As of July 1, 11.26% of the total tests conducted in India have been done in Maharashtra. While 5,72,032 persons are in home quarantine, 41,741 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. 

Read: Maharashtra Government Not Helping Weaker Sections In Crisis: BJP

Read: Maharashtra: 44 More Test Positive At Nagpur Central Jail, Total 53

BJP urges utilization of COVID-19 testing capacity

Earlier in the day, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis wrote to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray urging for the full COVID-19 testing capacity in the state to be utilised. He stressed that testing was the only way in which the novel coronavirus crisis can be addressed. Referring to Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan's letter dated July 1, he mentioned that the states had been advised to increase their testing on a massive scale.

In the letter, he also pointed out how the testing across the state was reduced on the days after a huge surge in COVID-19 cases was reported. According to him, this might help reduce the novel coronavirus figures but can lead to the further spread of the virus. Additionally, Fadnavis critiqued the system of declaring deaths from the previous period every day. He called on the administration to complete the death reconciliation process at the earliest and demanded the declaration of the COVID-19 deaths which took place outside the hospitals. 

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